[josephschmoe]

You should also consider the culture these myths create. It forces women to depend on one-another for a significant portion of the time, which, among other things, is a good anti-rape mechanism.

Certainly, these are crazy and superstitious, but given the realities of the times they come from, many of them were a net benefit to their rural society (or have minimal impact) - which is how they've survived to this day.

We have better knowledge now, and we should embrace it, but someone isn't necessarily stupid for following these rules.

[lostlogin]

I've got to dispute this - India has appalling rates of abuse, rape and mistreatment of women, and I don't believe any systems in place there are helpful. Have you got any citations that might change my opinion?

[cubancigar11]

It is a myth that India has appalling rates of rape. Rape is appalling, but it is fun nowadays to portray India as particularly bad when in reality it is pretty average statistically.[1] For example, rapes per capita: USA (27.3), Sweden (63.5), India (1.8), Canada (1.7). The counter argument generally is that India has lax laws, but to me that is a non-argument.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics#Rape_statistic...

[testos]

Following your link : "This list indicates the number of, and per capita cases of recorded rape. It does not include cases of rape which go unreported, or which are not recorded"

Hey don't you see any reason for a victim of rape to not report her/his aggression? Once you find one or two, think about how they may influence the results in the US and in India. Does the comparison hold?

You can play blind if you want, don't try to convince others. Your statistics cannot be used for international comparisons.

[cubancigar11]

"Following your link : "This list indicates the number of, and per capita cases of recorded rape. It does not include cases of rape which go unreported, or which are not recorded""

And unreported rapes will be higher in India - much higher - than Botswana (92.9), Panama (28.3), Jamaica (24.4), Belize (6.7) because?

"Your statistics cannot be used for international comparisons." Glad I was able to bask in your unabashed superiority, testos. Btw, they are not 'my' statistics, which show that Canada has several degrees higher rape incidents that go 'unreported, or which are not recorded' than USA. That data point was left in the comment just for your argument.

[testos]

I just pointed out that the statistics you provided as evidence to make your point are irrelevant.

It's good to quantify things but you need to understand the limitations of the figures.

[cubancigar11]

I agree to that. But when numbers have limitations we cannot chose to depend on our personal 'hunch'. That was my original objection. That the 'appaling problem in India' is just marketing news and it fits squarely inside 'problem in foreign land' trope.

[ygra]

... per 100000 capita. 27 rapes per person would be a bit high.